The poll released Tuesday determined that 21 percent of the more than 700 adults questioned in the telephone survey believe immigration is the most important problem facing Texas. Most polled would support measures like Arizona's, which lets law officers ask about a person's immigration status.

55% support a similar measure to Arizona ("allowing law enforcement officers to check immigration status,") but it is interesting in these times that barely 1 in 5 people think immigration is the big issue of the time. This is surprising given the laundry list of supposedly awful things that illegal immigration causes, especially in vulnerable border states. As a former resident of Dallas, I can testify that encountering illegal immigrants is a daily affair. Yet I managed to be neither robbed, nor kidnapped or killed during my time there.

I think Texans are more likely to understand the vast benefits of open immigration, since they see the benefits around them. Cheap labor means cheap services and products, which frees up money to be invested in other industries and increases economic growth, benefitting all - even those who take those jobs for low wages. I witnessed this working with numerous small businesses who simply could not afford to survive (or at least not survive without charging much more for their services) without illegal immigrant labor.

Despite the rhetoric, I think more people than is generally thought know that there is a great benefit to open immigration and would be happy to see rational immigration reform eliminate the problems of illegal immigration (criminals, terrorists and others that are a threat) while keeping the great benefit (cheap, hard-working labor.)